you've got brennan being held up by rand paul. he says he's going to place a hold on brennan at the cia. jack lew is undergoing questioning now and getting roughed up a bit. and right now his nomination may or may not be held up. what's the republican end game here? it's just not good for the national party brand. >> no, i don't think it is good, joe. and you've seen all this up close before. i think this is just a moment of leverage here. i mean, look. the president's got leverage on his domestic agenda right now. he's used his leverage after the election on taxes. you know, this is some leverage that republicans have to get some questions answered, to send some messages, to fire some shots across the bow. they're doing that. the white house is listening, by the way. it's mostly vice president biden who's talking to some of these more recalcitrant republicans and making sure they get what they need so they can get some of this stuff behind them. issues like benghazi. you know, i don't think there's any real issue with lew. as you